February 02, 2007
It's like we can read 39%'s mind
Last week I wrote a post about IL's efforts to privatize their lottery. I wrote at the time that it was a bad idea on a variety of levels and that the supposed need to do this really driven less by reality and more by fear.
And now, 39% has said he wants to do the same thing in Texas. Gee, didn't see that one coming. Let's walk through this deal, shall we... 39% thinks it's a good idea to sell off an asset to meet recurring expenses. Fine. What happens when you run out of assets to sale? How do you replace the revenue lost from the asset sale? I keep hearing dazzling numbers about how much money we're getting up front from the sale of assets, yet I never see much about how the money is going to be used to create a better investment that will provide more revenue to the state to replace that which is lost. It's like selling your car to pay off a bill and leaving yourself no way to get to work. What happens when you spend that last penny? Where does the next come from?
In the case of the toll roads, if we just let the gas tax adjust with inflation, we can sell the bonds and get the up front money now without soaking the citizens of Texas for the next 50-75 years. The same goes with the lottery. If things are moribund over there, replace 39%'s cronies with people who actually know the gaming industry and retailing. Clearly the mongo's 39% put in charge aren't doing the job.
The bottom line is it's a poor manager that tries to inflate profits by selling assets. That is what 39% is trying to do and we'll all be poorer for it.
If this is such a swell idea, why don't we just private the entire state and sell off the ability to tax us to a private company for the next 50 years? We'll take the up front payment and go have ice cream. This would be comical if 39% weren't so stupid.
Posted by mcblogger at February 2, 2007 01:53 PM
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